The social contract is a bit like any other relationship. It is built on trust. Back in the 60s, people trusted their government. Poll data is clear on that. When I was in school, "trusted sources" meant a gov't source. They were the neutral arbiters, the patriots, and the people working for the good of the country.

Now we've been shown that's not true. Not just once, but in every realm of interaction you might have with the government. All of it was corrupted.

Not just that. Many of us were Republicans. We believed the Econ 101 lessons about free market capitalism. We believed that you could trust a business to be in the business of making good products, offering high quality services, and making money. Then we saw "planned obsolescence." We saw cartel behavior similar to the robber baron era. We saw regulatory capture, not just of certain industry regulators but of every politician and every aspect of government. They bought both of the political parties.

We can't trust the private sector to be honest any more than the public sector. They both waged war on us. Both discriminated. Both promoted mandates. Both promoted mass immigration and work force replacement. Both toed the woke line. For those who know their history, this is exactly what happened in Nazi Germany.

And no, I won't trust any power structure intrinsically again. Power corrupts. It always corrupts. Even if we had the reckoning we need, we get full disclosure, public trials, public executions, I will not trust. That's been broken. We go back to the Founding Fathers' idea of small gov't with extensive checks and balances, and I take care of my own business.